The Sunday began like any other for Patricia Carter, a young girl living in a small studio in Chicago. She spent much of it resting and readying her body for a long week, when she was suddenly attacked by a large, creepy-looking, winged bug.

Carter recalls those first close encounter moments vividly. “I was standing next to my bed when suddenly I felt this huge presence next to my ears and floating down my body,” she says, shuddering. “Thankfully, I was holding a large book at the time and was able to swat down the combatant quickly, before she could take in the scope of her enemy.

Moments later, Carter scanned the area to see what she had swat at. And that’s when she saw it. The monster looked to be a mix between a spider, a mosquito and a wasp-three bugs that haunt her. Unable to bring herself to squash it, partly out of fear and partly out of not wanting to clean bug guts up out of her shaggy carpet, Carter decided upon chemical warfare. She grabbed two bottles of bathroom cleaner and neared the enemy slowly.

Realizing she would only have one good shot before the creature used its wings to get away, she readied her mind and steadied her hands. And sprayed the toxic gases like they were water from a hydrant in a city on a hot summer day.

Unfortunately, however, the creature got away. It stayed within her sight and she attempted to squish it a couple times. Its speed and agility, however, kept it from imminent death this time around, and it flew underneath her already somewhat crowded bed.

Terrified, she sprayed both cleaners aggressively into the area in which it disappeared, hoping to gas it out.

Hours later, the creature has yet to reemerge in the studio. Carter waits patiently and nervously, convinced that every little twitch she feels on her body is the enemy coming out to attack her.

She had a tough time sleeping that night because, for the first time since her childhood, she truly believed there was a monster living under her bed.